1. The Technical Field
The present invention is directed to packaging for grouped similar items, including elongated items such as drill bits or the like, and further including packaging adapted to be hung from retail shelving.
2. The Prior Art
There are many ways to package and present in a retail environment, elongated items, such as drill bits, jigsaw blades and the like, including skin cards, clamshell blister packs, plastic bags, and molded or stamped boxes. Such elongated items may be sold in a variety of basic ways: the single article (or at most 2–3 if small) in a package; a quantity of, e.g. 5–10 identical articles in a package; an organized set of different, but related articles (e.g., a set of an indeterminate number of articles of varying size, grade, etc.).
Presenting a single article in a package may be advantageous, in that in a transparent package, e.g., a bag or skin card, all or substantially all of the surface of the individual article may be exposed for visual inspection or even (in a thin bag or wrapper) tactile inspection.
However, single article packaging can be problematic in that it can occupy more storage and shipping volume that a comparable number of like articles packaged in bunches. Furthermore, if a customer is purchasing a large quantity of single articles, there can be more checkout time involved.
However, plural article packaging can be problematic as well, for elongated articles such as drill bits and the like. Such packaging may typically may be fabricated from plastic or paper. Plastic may be difficult to affix identifying and marketing indicia, consumer information and the like in a manner which does not obscure the visibility of the products inside. Paper may permit indicia placement but likewise typically obscures visibility of the articles being presented.
It would be desirable to provide a method for packaging plural identical articles, such as elongated articles like drill bits, which has the advantages of single article packaging, such as enabling visual inspection of the articles.
It would also be desirable to provide a method for packaging of plural identical articles, which provides for the placement of such indicia as may be desired by the manufacturer or required by law, while still permitting visual inspection.
These and other desirable characteristics of the present invention will become apparent in view of the present specification, including claims, and drawings.